Posted on 11/29/2025 9:02:09 PM PST by Red Badger
US President Donald Trump has warned Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to step down or risk potential American military action, a report says.
Tensions between Washington and Caracas have surged after US President Donald Trump warned Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro that refusal to step down voluntarily could trigger the use of American military force.
According to a Wall Street Journal report, Trump delivered a stark ultimatum during a hotline call on 22 November, telling Maduro he could take the “easy way or hard way," offering safe passage to a friendly capital or face direct US action.
Trump’s warning coincided with a sharply worded public declaration that Venezuela’s airspace should be regarded as “closed in its entirety." Though he holds no legal authority to shut down another sovereign nation’s airspace, the message, addressed to airlines, pilots, “drug dealers and human traffickers", sent shockwaves through the aviation industry. Several carriers swiftly suspended flights to Caracas following the advisory. Venezuela denounced the remarks as a “colonialist threat" and an “illegal and unjustified aggression."
Airspace tensions and US military posturing
The Federal Aviation Administration had already alerted commercial operators to heightened hazards over Venezuela due to military activity and security risks. Trump’s statement, however, pushed the situation to a new level. His administration has framed the intensifying posture as part of a wider clampdown on drug trafficking networks allegedly tied to the Maduro government.
In recent months, US forces have carried out more than 20 strikes on boats Washington claims were ferrying narcotics, resulting in over 80 fatalities. However, no physical evidence has been released to verify that the vessels carried drugs, deepening concerns about the legality and intent of the operations. Venezuelan officials insist the US campaign is designed not to target cartels but to topple Maduro.
The deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and supporting assets to the Caribbean underscores Washington’s readiness to escalate. Trump has hinted that land-based operations inside Venezuela could begin “soon," pointing to the threat of force is no longer merely rhetorical.
Caracas pushes back
Venezuela’s foreign ministry condemned Trump’s comments as hostile and destabilising, accusing Washington of attempting to impose regime change under the guise of counter-narcotics operations. Maduro, whose 2024 re-election was rejected by much of the international community as fraudulent, remains defiant, portraying the crisis as another chapter in the nation’s long struggle against US interventionism.
The US designation of the “Cartel de los Soles", which Washington alleges includes senior military figures and Maduro himself, as a foreign terrorist organisation has widened the legal and military latitude available to American agencies. For Caracas, it represents an unprecedented step towards formalising a justification for direct intervention.
The decisive trigger came this November when Trump labelled the entire Venezuelan government a terrorist entity, a move that shattered any remaining diplomatic channels.
Final ultimatum?
Washington’s terms are blunt – Maduro must leave office before Christmas, with safe passage granted to Havana, Moscow or another allied capital, along with access to a negotiated share of offshore assets. If he refuses, the US is prepared to initiate operations that could dismantle the regime within weeks.
Maduro has already rejected the offer. Fuel reserves inside Venezuela have reportedly dropped to 18 per cent, commercial airspace is effectively frozen, and mid-level officers are said to be exploring defection deals. US special operations aircraft are now positioned in Aruba.
Instead, he's continued to fund Ukraine, bombed Iran for Israel, and now this.
This is not what I voted for.
This is exactly what I voted for.
This is not a war.
How many American military lives have been lost? The drug cartels have been killing our youth with drugs. That seems like a war to me. DJT is in the process of ending it, with a small price to the US and a huge price to the cartels. What is not to like about that?
So it's not a war until the U.S. suffers casualties?
The drug cartels have been killing our youth with drugs. That seems like a war to me.
So it is a war?
DJT is in the process of ending it, with a small price to the US...
American entry into Vietnam began with small prices. These things tend to escalate.
My niece was killed last year by lethal dose of fentanyl. She had been clean for 2 years in rehab…. Took her coffee break while at work and found later in her car dead from overdose. Damn these drug smugglers and dealers! They should be put to desth for their crimes.
We’ve been not-at-war with several retrograde countries for many decades. They declare their hate for us, vow to destroy us, and repeatedly attack and bleed us. But we don’t fight back, so there is no “war”. I’m trying to distinguish this “not-at-war” from “surrender”.
As far as I am concerned, Trump is AVOIDING a war with Venezuela. Slowly squeezing the country and applying more and more pressure until Maduro cries uncle.
The 60 or so Venezuelan drug dealers are fewer fatalities than a long weekend in Chicago.
Did the bombing of Iran result in a continued war?
Seems to have stopped those little goat humpers from waging further wars.
“These things tend to escalate.”
Things tend to escalate when you are a weak coward and let aggressor nations run rampant.
Your interpretations are faulty - this is exactly what I voted for.
Wars have been started over fewer casualties.
It's not the number of casualties, but the matter of national pride.
Imagine if a foreign country killed 60 Americans, then ordered Trump to resign or face worse consequences. We'd treat that as a de facto act of war. Why do you imagine that foreign nations feel differently?
Trump is seeking to eradicate Evil from the world. Same as Bush 2. I don't think this will end well.
They started it. They and their henchmen (like the Cubans and the CCP) have been cheating and stealing our elections for years using their election machines and computer programs via the internet. The drug murders and vicious gangs are only the most visible part of it.
I'm glad most of my life is behind me.
It is a war but DJT didnt start it. He is ending it.
Yep this is a fumigation not a war.
“Trump promised no wars.”
I don’t know why people keep saying this. He absolutely did not promise that.
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